[A national palliative care law in Spain: a matter of equity and public health].

Spain has made relevant progress in the planning, visibility and organisation of palliative care, but territorial inequalities, differences in access and still insufficient guarantees for patients and families persist. In this context, a national palliative care law should be understood not as an ideological gesture or a reactive response to other debates, but as a tool for equity, public health and cohesion within the National Health System. The World Health Organization considers the existence of a legal framework that guarantees access to and regulates palliative care to be an indicator of development, and the European experience shows that the most useful laws are those that, beyond formal recognition, incorporate concrete mechanisms for implementation, financing, governance and evaluation. In light of these lessons, a future Spanish law should establish common minimum standards of access across the country, promote early and integrated care, strengthen professional training, support families and caregivers, ensure access to essential medicines and establish public monitoring indicators. The aim would not be to add one more regulation, but to reinforce a basic guarantee of the health system.